Every week I spend time reviewing older posts to ensure they are updated with the most pertinent information possible. Keeping posts fresh and useful is one of the many duties of a professional blogger. Posts that I wrote five years ago are still getting tens of thousands of visitors a month because like a bonzai tree, they are carefully maintained. There's always a balance between spending time writing new posts and optimizing existing posts that are already doing well in search. With enough care, you too might one day create a small empire!
One post that I reviewed recently was Ranking The Best Passive Income Streams. This post discusses all the most popular passive income streams and ranks them by Risk, Return, Feasibility, Liquidity, and Activity. There's no more thorough post on the web about this topic. The best passive income streams are Creating Your Own Product and Dividend Investing.
What I love about Creating Your Own Product is that you don't have to be rich to create. You just need creativity and drive! With Dividend Investing, you need capital. What's more democratic than allowing a poor person and a rich person do the same thing? It's so great we have public libraries that provide free internet access and all the reading material you could ever want.
THE GREAT VALUE OF PASSIVE INCOME
Everything starts from nothing. Thankfully, most of us have received years of free education that exposed us to many different interesting subjects. My subject of interest happens to be figuring out ways to make money to lead a freer lifestyle. What's yours?
In the summer of 2012, I published a 100-page book called How To Engineer Your Layoff: Make A Small Fortune By Saying Goodbye. The book came hot off the heels of negotiating my own severance package after 11 years of working at the same company.
It was a no-brainer to realize that having a longer financial runway after leaving a job would help reduce anxiety and maximize search time for the next great thing. I just had to write about it. If you quit you don't get a severance package, you lose your COBRA health insurance, forfeit all deferred compensation, and are ineligible for unemployment benefits.
Passive Income From An eBook
Within a year of releasing the book on Financial Samurai, it started generating about $500 – $1,000 a month worth of passive income. Not huge, but better than a poke in the eye. Ironically, the biggest value the book provided was a permanent step up in traffic to my website because it was pirated so much!
Those who found the book interesting clicked the links within my book to see what else I'd written about. Although I wasn't able to capture all the direct revenue from the book, I was able to capture more traffic, which is why having your own website is important in this day and age.
After three years of steady $1,000 – $1,500 a month in sales, I finally decided to update the book in 2016 with a 2nd edition. I had received so many personal e-mails about successful layoff engineer stories I just had to share them in the latest edition. Just like how I update old posts, I also updated the book with the latest labor laws and severance negotiation strategies available.
Creating A Safety Net
Since releasing the 2nd edition, revenue from the book has jumped to roughly $2,500 a month. Part of the jump is due to a price increase. Another reason is increased layoff anxiety as the stock market had its worst start of the year in the history of the S&P 500. Anxiety is still running high as more and more people from the energy, finance, and startup industries are getting laid off.
What started as a simple desire to share the mantra, “never quit, get laid,” with no real focus on revenue generation, has turned into a passive income stream with meaningful revenue. $2,500 a month = $30,000 a year, enough money to survive a spartan lifestyle in SF, or an average lifestyle in the Midwest. Having this income stream gives me the confidence to try new things. It's this confidence that enables me and others with a similar safety net to keep on going!
Some people like Bill Gates III from Microsoft and Evan Spiegel from Snapchat were ALREADY wealthy before they became billionaires. They didn't need to get full-time jobs right out of school. Bill didn't even need to finish college because he already had a huge safety net in place! When you know that if you fail, the worst that can happen is convalesce at your family's summer beach chalet, you can take incredible risk for potentially tremendous reward.
You and I need to create our own safety nets for financial freedom. Every safety net we build interlinks. One day,we'll each have our own massive support system which will propel us forward to help other people.
CALCULATING THE VALUE OF PASSIVE INCOME
Telling someone you make $30,000 a year from a book isn't impressive. I certainly don't recommend it as a pickup line. But that's because most people don't think like owners or investors. They think like zombie consumers!
As an investor, how much would you pay for an asset that generates $30,000 a year in passive income and has little risk of going away? The answer depends on the current risk-free rate of return (10-year bond yield), the dividend yield of the S&P 500 (~2.5%), the historical rate of return for the stock market (~8%), and the viability of the product. See the chart below.
Passive Income Is More Valuable In A Low Interest Rate Environment
* Based on the current 2% risk free rate of return, a $30,000 income stream is worth $1,500,000 if the product is also considered risk free.
* Based on a traditional 4% retirement withdrawal rate, you could have a portfolio of $750,000 whose principal would never be touched if you took out $2,500 a month for the rest of your life.
* Based on an estimated 8% historical return on the S&P 500, you could have an after-tax investment portfolio of $375,000 that grows by $30,000 a year on average.
* Based on a 10% rate of return, you could grow a $50B+ empire like Bernie Madoff did and become a billionaire by starting off with $300,000 in capital.
It's always good to look at an income stream, passive or not, in the context of how much capital you would have to commit to generate the same return, and what type of return the capital could generate. If we head into a deflationary environment where the 10-year bond yield falls to just 1% as people rush to buy bonds and make 1% rather than lose 20% in the stock market, the value of a steady $30,000 income stream rises to $3,000,000!
THINK LIKE AN OWNER TO BUILD YOUR WEALTH
Owners build things. And when they build something that works, they keep on building until it doesn't. I'm but a small fish in a great sea of builders. But thanks to the internet and technology, being a small fish is all you need to grow a tremendous amount of wealth. My only regret about Financial Samurai is not starting it three years sooner when I first thought of the idea.
Get rid of that defeatist mentality where you don't believe you can create anything of value. I'm sure there's something you experienced where you found a solution to a problem that made your life better. Chances are high that other people will find your solution beneficial as well.
My book on negotiating a severance package is a niche product about a topic that is probably counter intuitive. Yet it's now out there in the world helping people in difficult situations.
Now it's time for me to write a new book in a different niche because I've been inspired to keep leveraging my platform to create more products. Yes, it will probably take 3-6 months of writing and editing. But when my capital cost is near zero, the only excuse I have for not publishing a new book on my growing platform is laziness.
Related: Ranking The Best Passive Income Investments
Start Your Own Website
Start your own website and improve your future. Check out my step-by-step tutorial guide on how you can launch a site like mine in under 30 minutes for just $2.95/month.
A website legitimizes your business and becomes your online portal. Not a day goes by where I'm not thankful for starting Financial Samurai in 2009. In just 2.5 years, I was able to quit my job and be free. Everyone should leverage the internet to build a brand, build a business, and become untethered from an office to live a life of purpose!
Hey Sam what”s the formula for passive income value?
Basically your annual passive income stream dividend by the risk-free rate of return plus an equity risk premium. Let’s call the denominator 4%.
Now I know why I am poor. I make money the old fashioned way: I *EARN* it.
Sam,
How did you write your E-book? did you use a specific vendor? what do you recommend for those who are interested in pursuing a similar product approach?
Generating multiple streams of passive income is my main financial goal. Well, retiring at 35 is, though that’s not going to happen (I make in the low $40,000’s at my day job). Right now, I’m working two jobs, investing in dividend growth stocks and P2P lending, working on a blog, and am looking to invest in a mixed use property that I would live in (and perhaps create a niche site about the process as well) as well as start a business. Hopefully all those different income streams, both active and passive, will propel me to my goals of early financial freedom that much faster.
I was one of the lonely few to vote for you to write about how to get into, thrive, and get out of the financial services industry. As a fellow banker (though I’m a retail banker while you were an investment banker), it’s definitely something I would find interesting. I’m looking to make a transition from retail to private banking at the end of the year (I’m looking to get some time in on my new position as the branch’s licensed banker before I go anywhere). If you don’t write about that topic, my second choice would have been about how to create a lifestyle business through a blog. I figure maybe I could take away some information from that for my own blog or my soon-to-be online business.
Sincerely,
ARB–Angry Retail Banker
Writing a book or creating a blog is not exactly “passive” income. It’s active income.
That’s not to say it is not a good way to earn income but it’s misleading to put it in the same basket as owning SPY or a 10 yr-note or CD.
Blog income isn’t passive income, which is why online income is not included in my passive income report.
But I’d argue that book income is much closer to CD and dividend interest income than active income.
If you feel mislead, I’m sorry. Do you think I should explicitly write out that nothing just happens without effort? That everything passive must take active energy? I thought that was a given, but maybe not with everybody expecting to get rich without putting into the effort.
I’m afraid you might be missing the overall message of this post. Tell me more about you and your perspective.
You do an excellent job on this blog. Also, I think you do a great service by encouraging people to write books, create blogs, and to create multiple streams of income, both passive and active.
I just don’t think it is fair to compare writing a book and it’s resultant economic stream with a passive investment, such as a CD. If you feel it’s the same, then what about creating a TV show? Album? Movie? To those that are out there and write a book that earn $30k per year continually, I salute you as I know it is difficult and takes a lot of hard work. However, that is not the same as owning property earning $30k per year or a CD earning $30k per year. If you don’t believe that, try selling the royalties and see if anyone will capitalize those earnings at 1-2%, like CDs.
If, anything, my point was that writing a book is a job, which takes skill, talent, and effort, much beyond that needed to buy VTI, bonds, or CDs. Maybe in your mind, it is passive, because you are really good at it. But, I think that’s a stretch as a term. However, you are correct in that I’m probably missing the forest from the trees because it is a great idea.
As far as myself, I am a doctor, healthcare entrepreneur and investor in businesses and real estate.
I really love the whole concept of passive income. Lower taxes, and little if any work required to maintain it. Royalties, real estate, ownership in business, and lending…I just get excited thinking about it all.
My preference is real estate, but I think people need to create multiple streams of income in order to be the best off.
Thanks Sam and Aaron. I am using all the investment vehicles you mentioned — dividend income at long term capital gains tax, muni bonds, and real estate. What I haven’t explored and would love to is to start my own business. This also aligns with my long term goal and my calling, to open a business related to a cause that I care deeply about (while keeping it practical).
Since you both gave that suggestion, how does one get started? Any suggested readings you could recommend? Eventually I’ll figure it out but you can help so much in short circuiting that journey. Many thanks in advance.
I’m 100% a fan of having an online business!
https://www.financialsamurai.com/blogging-for-a-living-how-much-can-you-really-make-online/
Sam, I have been reading your blog for a few months now, which is a few years after I have started thinking seriously about reaching financial independence in the next 5-10 years. To be sure, I’d like to work forever (if possible) because I find what I do intellectually challenging and fun, but I feel that if I dont “need” the money, I can rid myself of the stress of corporate politics and just do what I do because I like it, and not worry about career progression or rewards etc.
But there are a few catches about my situation that I am sure some of your other readers will relate to, and maybe explain why people don’t invest in generating passive income. I’m writing this because if my reasoning is wrong, I’d like to hear it. Especially if the mid to long term goal is to feel financially independent.
I am 38 and my husband 36, we have 2 kids, and our net joint income is about half a million. We are aggressive savers, but we have consciously decided not to invest in assets that generate any current income, because we’ll have to pay 50% marginal tax (we live in California) on that additional income anyway. Our goal is to invest in assets that grow over time and allow you to defer tax payments. The high tax rate, and to a certain extent the opportunity cost of spending time away from your career rather than investing in being better at it, make “hustles”, or ways to generate passive income streams less attractive. Still, generating other streets of passive income are worthwhile for several reasons — a change, satisfaction, a sense of empowerment that you are able to make a living (or a quasi living) in an entirely different way.
Maybe I am thinking of this the wrong way, because I admit I am quite risk averse. Should I worry less about my marginal tax rate now and more about having a long term alternate source of income? What do you think readers?
Depends on your net worth and desire to work for how much longer. What is your current income multiple?
I would try to make money through dividend income and long term capital gains taxes at a 20% rate. Muni bond income is tax free too. I would also start a business to shelter your income as well.
I’d highly recommend using a business as a tax vehicle. I am in California as well, I was able to get my effective tax rate down to the low 20’s.
Also, real estate can meet both your goals here. It can cash flow, generating passive income. The asset will also appreciate over time and grow in value. And when you’re a real estate investor, you can actually sell an investment property, and if you use the gains from the sale to get a “bigger or better” property you won’t pay taxes on shifting your investment. It’s a great way to expand the number of rental units you own, increasing cash flow and lowering your vacancy risk!
This is called a “1031 exchange”, you can check out more at the link below
https://www.irs.gov/uac/Like-Kind-Exchanges-Under-IRC-Code-Section-1031
I never understood this concept: if I make $X more and am taxed at 50%, I won’t do it!
What you are saying is that you wouldn’t take an extra $10m per year in income, because you don’t want to pay the $5m in taxes as you will only make an extra $5m per year. Does that seem reasonable? What if, in addition to making an extra $5m per yr post-tax, it involved you cutting your hours in half and doubling your vacation time. Would you still not do it?
In regards to this:
“Our goal is to invest in assets that grow over time and allow you to defer tax payments.”
This is a complicated subject, but as a Manhattanite, I always get questions from friends and family as to why I don’t buy real estate in Manhattan instead of elsewhere. I always explain I’d rather earn a 12% return now and pay half in taxes than earn a 0% return in the hopes of further appreciation. As a side note, I would add that if I could predict future Manhattan real estate prices with any accuracy, I would quit everything and just do that.
I suggest you focus on increasing income/hour spent every year after-tax.
How long have you been renting in Manhattan? One of my biggest regrets was not buying a 2/2 near 21st between Mad and Park back in 2000.
Since 2002. Unfortunately, I’ve spent approximately $600k on rent since then!
A few years ago, I finally saved and earned enough money to buy a property in Manhattan, but instead chose to invest in multifamily properties and other businesses. The bad news is I still want to buy a place. The good news is that I feel much better in cash-flowing businesses and real estate than I do owning a property, especially with a mortgage.
I generally feel that when you are buying real estate in an area where cap rates are sub-4%, one should be careful unless you can buy with cash. If you account for condo fees/taxes, most of Manhattan is sub-2% or negative, which is not appealing to me currently unless I find a steal somewhere.
My primary goal is to be able to live off of passive income first and then buy a place where my mortgage is paid off by the passive income as well. This way I can continue to enjoy work but not be stressed by any changes in my economic situation. Unfortunately, being a doctor in the US today carries a significant amount of risk for someone in their late 30s or 40s so I’m cautious with debt as I only see our incomes plummeting over the next several years. If that happens, I would consider working in another country, so for now, I’m still holding back on buying unless I find a good deal.
I would definitely love to own at 2000 prices though!!!
Ouch, but at least you enjoyed your apartments and kept liquid.
I will say that one of the GREATEST feelings is owning and living in your own place. It’s actually a priceless feeling actually. I’m always buying property to live in for lifestyle reasons first, and then rent out for cash flow once I’m bored or have accumulated enough to buy a new place.
If you buy to live, you’ll have much less regrets because life is pretty amazing.
This is such an awesome post. Never really considered passive income from something like a blog in the context of what it would take to generate the same amount of money.
You have completely blown my mind!
Hi Sam,
First thank you so much for your blog, it helps to understand more how you can make money working toward freedom.
I’m just starting out financially, saving 26% of my income (student loan payment included).
I really want to get in the passive income path, but I’m not sure what’s the best to start with between index funds and rental properties. And if I choose the last one, between saving 1 year and buying a small unit, or saving 2/3 years and buying a larger one.
I read a lot about personal finance and learn as much as I can, how can I make the best decision on this?
Thanks and keep on writing!
Claire
$30,000 dollars in passive income is HUGE from where I’m standing :)
Scaling up passive income by x 25 is a good way to get a handle on the value. This probably over values it, we are not comparing like with like for one. But it always blows my mind clean off it’s hinges to do the calculation.
Hmm if a website brought in just £100 a month, that £1,200 a year…wtf that’s worth £30k! :D
Would your advice to be, just go for it with passive income? I suspect that many, like myself, get too caught up in the planning…
There’s definitely a lot of opportunity to buy undervalued cash flowing web properties right now.
Always just go for it. I had to write my book fresh off of my layoff/severance negotiation. Then I improved it and added 50 more pages after it had been out for three years. And I will improve it again in the future too.
Once you build a platform (your website), you can add an unlimited amount of products to it. Just have to do it, which is why I wrote this post to write another book.
Sam is this why you don’t date your posts because they are constantly updated? If this is indeed a better strategy, why don’t more blogs do this?
Yes indeed. I try to make the large majority of my posts timeless and relevant. I’m not sure why more blogs don’t do this. It takes work to update hundreds of articles every year. Endless hours actually. But if you believe FS is a top blog, then other blogs with less traffic should probably consider following my method.
You’ve accomplished so much. Very inspiring! I’m slowly building my passive income streams. Lately I’ve been more focused on building active income streams though which aren’t as ideal as passive, but at least more income is better than no income! Having more active income is helping me grow my passive income though, so I am continuing to hustle as best I can. I still struggle with efficiency, but I think I’m getting slightly better. I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I’m pretty durable!
Hi Sam,
In order best to plan and ‘see the writing on the wall’ it may important for those trying to engineer a layoff to identify the internal/cultural reasons for layoffs and work those issues too. I’ve heard more than one victim of some rightsizing say they were blind-sided by hanging only with Their certain set of cohorts (feeling secure and happy), where they became entirely unaware of some looming dislike being focused at them by another faction.
In this article, ex-Goldman CEO blames toxic Gen-X culture (ie. the new middle managers who took over) for its corporate demise: https://www.generationaldynamics.com/pg/xct.gd.e120315b.htm. And this article is one of many that cite baby-boomers get laid off first in Silicon Valley – and i can assure you it’s true :( https://www.businessinsider.com/stressful-lives-of-older-tech-workers-2015-11. There used to be many (silly) articles about “entitled Millenials” but more recently these have turned into something like “Boomers and Millenials get on, but neither like Gen-xers” or some-such thing.
Personally I experienced a boss who would not lay me off in a downturn because he said he ‘really could relate to me and that’s a rare thing these days’. And he gave me some silly award which sealed my fate with HR to make *sure* I could not get laid off. Meanwhile my buddies all got hefty g’bye packages and a couple of them sent me a smiley text with photos from Palmtree Beach Land, saying: ‘Hey! sure hope that award’s workin’ for you – things are good here, I got a new job and I got a great departure package!’.
Just sayin’
Dave
Nice work Sam on updating the book! It’s great that it continues to perform well for you and supply you with passive income throughout the year.
If there is one other topic I’d love to see you write about in an ebook, it’d be around building and managing an income- producing blog… but that’s just me. :)
I also like your note around creating a financial safety net first, and then taking substantial risks to target huge rewards. It’s a nice place to live.
I use certificates of deposit also as my passive income for my IRA and extra savings. I also use a stable value fund in my 401k if that counts as a passive income. I choose to save a lot and invest in these products rather than trying to live through market swings. Please see my blog I have that lists my networth, budget, and ways I save money.
Would be crazy interested to hear how many people used your book to orchestrate their layoff – and had success. In 2009, I planned for months to successfully get laid off from my options trading firm, so that I could work full time on a startup. I probably could have used your book at the time. It took months, and just weeks before I was about to get off, I got the call into HR with a nice severance package.
I’ve told so many friends about the experience, and even encouraged / helped others to do the same thing. But it never occurred to me that it would be valuable advice at a massive scale. Congrats on the book, and putting those ideas on paper in a way that people can take real action. Even with a step-by-step guide – getting yourself laid off, and not fired, is a tight line to walk.
Hey Sam. Thanks for keeping this blog honest. I have been earning about 20k a year of passive income for the past several years on a 100k investment and have had thoughts of taking my money out and putting it elsewhere. Reading this post, I realize that I am actually doing pretty good, especially when you consider that my origional 100k is secure and I can take it out at anytime with a 30 day notice; not to mention that the income is cash. My goal is to reach around 65k in passive income, which would make me feel like I no longer have to work, reach a point of saying FU to any employer. Reaching such a point must be a great feeling. See you on that side in the near future god willing. Please write more about the psychological/ emotional epiphnies of somone who has been freeed from the bonds of modern slavery.
A $20K return on $100K is huge. How long is it for and what is it? I need some of that exposure!
Check out these two posts for your last point:
How Does It Feel To Retire Early?
What Does It Feel Like To Be Financially Independent?
Sam its in an ATM business owned by a friend. He needs a lot of cash for his business, especially when he wants to expand. I put my 100k cash in with written agreement to certain percentage of his profits ( I selected a few Atms that were totaling an avg of $2k profit a month for the last year ). Agreement drawn up by my lawyer also gives me the right to pull out my money with 30 days notice. Agreement also holds both the business and the individual responsible for returning my 100k if things go south. I am getting close to making my origional 100k investment back in passive income and hoping to keep my money parked as is. I receive hx of monthly ATM transactions online which in turn gives my my profit amount. Completley passive as all the leg work is done by friend, and although not as secure as bonds, relatively secure.
Sam I love how you are making passive income off your book. I have considered getting the book several times but my company doesn’t offer any kind of severance package so not sure it would help me.
My hope is to some day have a similar ebook (not the same subject but a ebook that I sell from my site) that will provide me with the income to support my lifestyle. One question though, why is it you don’t use Amazon Kindle? Is it easier? Or not profitable? Thanks
I think selling through Amazon limits you on the price you can charge ($10) and then they take 30% – 40%. I already have my platform built so I feel selling through FS is good enough. I will probably experiment with another book priced under $10 this year, where I can sell on Amazon and here.
I think $30,000 in passive income is huge! The increase in earnings from the 2nd edition is also interesting – instead of declining monthly sales they have increased. I wouldn’t be surprised if the book were to become an even bigger hit through word of mouth etc. Its a great idea. Do you think you have pad for the time and effort of writing it?
I have one real estate property now and am looking to get another one to increase passive income. Do you have an suggestions on how to go about doing this? Short Sale, Foreclosure, turnkey rental? I’m thinking turnkey makes most sense for me.
I wrote the book because it had to be written. The book is totally contrary to everything out there. When my severance check hit, I realized that I would make more than 90% of my colleagues at my same level or below, while doing only 3 months of work.
And with each year that goes by after leaving Corporate America, I see the tremendous value in negotiating a severance package. The continuing payments I’m receiving from my old employer is an absolute bonus when they hit my checking account. Can you imagine getting a $70,000+ check five years AFTER you’ve left your job? It’s nuts! But that is what a good severance package can do for some people who negotiate well.
Sam,
Congratulations on upping your book income. That is very impressive.
My understanding of tax law is that all passive income (including royalties) above $200K (or $250K if filing jointly) is subject to the net investment income tax of 3.9% as part of the Affordable Care Act tax. Are you able to offset any expenses related to the book or are you hit with the full tax on all royalty income?
-Mike
We’ll see when I do my taxes this year. But I’m always going to have an AGI under $200K b/c that is my ideal income for maximum happiness, so I don’t think the NII tax will apply.
Hi Sam,
I agree with your love of passive income streams. It’s this need to create passive income streams that has gotten me to diversify into multiple real estate properties and put a nice chunk of change into the market. With the real estate I have been using leverage. And its interesting, because your absolutely right, $30,000 doesn’t sound like much, but when you back track you have got to take down a pretty large commercial property (1.5 million) to net that much annually in rent (assuming you are using leverage to purchase the property and have debt service). I also recently started blog to keep me honest and dedicated to continuing my path to creating income streams. The $30,000 your taking home from the book is commendable.
i like your “harsh reality” advice sometimes, because hell, that’s how the world really is. but as someone with low self-esteem,
Get rid of that defeatist mentality where you don’t believe you can create anything of value. I’m sure there’s something you experienced where you found a solution to a problem that made your life better. Chances are high that other people will find your solution beneficial as well.
was pretty good too..
Hey Sam, good thoughts.
The funny thing is that most people think they ‘retire’ when they stop working, but they go from being a -insert job- to an investor. The people who start their investing early in life, are the ones who have the most experience by the time they reach an older age.
One of the best ways that passive income kicks ass is the power of multiplication. If I’m an accountant, I’m mostly paid on how many tax returns I can do. If I’m a car washer, how many cars can I wash. You can do things more efficiently, but ultimately to earn more you have to work more. With passive, your earnings have no ceiling, dividends/rental income/book sales can all grow without a correlated increase in effort (though it helps of course).
I find it very interesting that you go back and update your posts. I suppose nearly all your posts are things someone might google and refer to, as opposed to on a DGI blog, no-one is going to go back to your February 2014 income and read that.
Thanks for sharing,
Tristan
Looking at it as a scalability question is certainly an advantage. I think passive income is a must but it is different for everyone. For some, it is an internet based business like blogs, for others is is real estate or the stock market. The key is to be focused on a plan to grow passive income year over year while you’re working your “day job.” At some point you can transition or maybe you never do, but there’s power and comfort in knowing you are independent of your day job via passive income.
My goal each year is to see my passive income grow. Some years it may be 1% but if I can continue growing and compounding, I will be very well to do.
One of the keys to creating recurring search traffic that ranks well is writing “Evergreen Content.” This post, Examples Of Good Resumes That Get Jobs, was written about 5 years ago, but is one of the top visited articles because the information is thorough and constantly updated.
Focus on writing posts that have the longest shelf life possible!
That’s awesome! $30K in passive income is nothing to sneeze at!
I’ve been building up my passive income streams too, over the past 5 years through rental properties. I finally reached the point where I no longer had to pursue traditional employment. It’s all about lifestyle design. I live in one of my rentals (for free) which allows me to have super low expenses and thus way more flexibility than my peers.
That’s great you’ve been able to generate enough in 5 years to no longer have to work. I wonder how many other people are willing to work/build something for 5 years to also have the same opportunity.
Right now my book is in its 4th year of life. Perhaps at the end of its 5th year, it could comfortably support my lifestyle alone here in SF. Probably not, but I’ll give it a try!